Modern internal combustion engines with unchanged or even enhanced performances are being constructed with ever decreasing outer dimensions. Besides this, due to the employment of multi-valve techniques, more and more engines have an increasing number of camshafts. This results in a considerable reduction of the design space disposable for the control gear. Many known tensioning devices are too large and therefore not usable.
Tensioning devices are known from the documents GB,A, 1 206 705 and DE,C, 3 623 903. In the device of the latter document, a tensioner housing for lodging the tension element, a guide rail for the chain and a pivoted sliding block are arranged separately from one another on the engine casing. The space requirement of this tensioning device is therefore considerable and its assembly complicated.